Chapter Seven
He hadn't expected anything from that ride home except a chance to spend more time with her. Feel her out, evaluate exactly where they were going with their current behavior. This time she had been searching him out at work on a more frequent basis. He had loved every minute of it, knowing Gates was to distracted to notice 'cause he had his own problems.
In the car, Ray and Neela had traded stories of embarrassing moments – trying to obtain levity after a long day of work. They had recalled a long night of whisky that involved her drunkenly trying to play his guitar, and him drunkenly trying to prevent her from doing it. It had been the three stooges minus one, and for some reason (alcohol related) they had giggled and laughed their way through the entire drunken evening.
He had mentioned that they should do it again sometime, and surprisingly she agreed.
She had looked so beautiful in his car, laughing, snow falling behind her head, that he had stopped her when she had tried to get out. Just with a careful hand placed upon hers. What he had expected was for her to skittishly jump out of his SUV, what he got was beyond his wildish imagination.
Kissing her delivered on every dream, and the fact that it was tentative and tender to start out, and not hot and tempestuous, felt right. After all, this had been a long time in coming. Why rush through it?
Her lips had tasted good, she had tasted good. And when her tongue reached out to brush against his lips, he had been the one to pull back in surprise. She had used the opportunity to lean forward and press her lips more firmly against his.
Right about this time he had leaned back, thumped the hazard lights on, and turned the ignition so the car's engine died. He did all of this in a bit of a frenzy, convinced that if it took him too long she would escape out the car door.
When he had turned back he saw her waiting, but still leaning towards him, waiting for him to finish dealing with the car. He hadn't been surprised she wasn't overly shy, he knew there had been a fireball beneath that slightly neurotic surface.
So with keys still jingling against the wheel, he had leaned back over, stuck his hand in her hair, and kissed her with a thoroughness that would guarantee she would remember this when they next met again. Covering her mouth with his, flicking at her tongue with his, starting at the corner of her mouth and working inwards, he had made sure every inch of those lips were intimately familiar with his mouth.
And when he finally drew back, breathing hard after only a minute or two of some very deep making out, he had noticed that she looked very mussed. The male ego side of him had surged with pride thinking that he had done that, making her breathe hard, her lips already swollen and glistening, and her pupils dilated. He ran his thumb across her lips and along her jaw, enjoying watching her eyes flutter closed.
He had then reached across the seat to pull her towards him, intending to pull her over onto his chair, but that was when she finally came to her senses. She flung open her eyes, shook her head, tucked her hair behind her ears and said, "I'll see you soon."
And with that, the car door had opened, a flash of cold air and snow breathed through the car, the door slammed shut, and she was gone, racing to her apartment in the snow.
He had known he had left her with lots to think about. She left him with a very interesting dream that night.